Jan 16 2007
Stuff about today
Today was ludicrously hot. So hot that half the state is apparently blacked out. I know that Mopsy’s ambient temperature sensor reached 44ºC and the air conditioning was only really able to fight the heat when the car was in motion. Not that easy to do when you consider that about half the traffic lights in Melbourne were dead. It was surprisingly low-key at these intersections, with no police directing traffic… NOBODY directing traffic (except for one guy I saw on Bridge Rd, doing a sterling job in his white t-shirt and shorts, chatting on his mobile).
I wanted to check some news about the blackouts, but the Age site is down. I guess they’re having issues there too. 
Somehow in my after-work surfing I found the story of Allegri’s ‘Miserere’ piece, composed during the 1600s and considered so beautiful that it was forbidden for any performer to copy and share the work, under punishment of excommunication from the church. This ended when Mozart heard the piece at the age of 14 (or possibly 12, the stories contradict) and wrote it from memory after the fact. Fascinating stuff. Was Mozart slightly autistic to be able to do things like this?
2 Responses to “Stuff about today”
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On my way home last night, I found many intersections blacked out without any police presence and surprisingly LESS traffic than on any regular day with the lights working.
Guess it shows that people can adapt to thinking for themselves in these situations when they HAVE to be more alert on the road.
But for the many that made the effort, there’s always the idiot next to you who just doesn’t care and tries to ram his way through an intersection. Fortunately he was surrounded by people with more sense than him and he made it through.
At the next set of lights I just looked at him. I think he realised what a tool he made of himself. That thought lasted until the next intersection. I dub him “Goldfish Man”.
I actually ran right through a small T-intersection without even realising there were lights there. It’s amazing how you get conditioned to look out for the lights.